Race Your Best Next Year: Planning Tips for an Early-Season IRONMAN

Everyone's talking about the off season, but if you're racing an early-season race in 2014, read on.

It may be cold outside, but for some the beginning of the IRONMAN season is just around the corner. Athletes racing IRONMAN South Africa, Los Cabos or Texas are already counting down to race day in four and a half to six months. If you're one of these athletes, you should be asking yourself what you're doing to get ready. Whether you're a first-timer or a multiple-time finisher, use these guidelines to start dialing in your early-season racing success now.

First-timer checklist

For the first-time IRONMAN athlete, just covering the full 140.6 miles is your primary concern. Build up your aerobic engine by doing longer sessions at 60 to 70 percent of your maximum effort (defined as what you could sustain for an hour). This should be done gradually. For example, if your long ride is four hours now, build it to six or seven hours over the course of several weeks. In general, you should be able to cover 112 miles in relative comfort at least four weeks out from race day. This will give you time to do one or two more quality long rides to build your confidence before beginning your taper.

These long rides can be difficult if you’re stuck inside for the winter. If so, consider doing multi-brick workouts to break things up. This would consist of doing two to three hours on the bike, then doing an hour run, then getting back on the bike for another two to three hours. You could end with another run if you feel strong, to simulate coming off the bike.

The swim is usually the most daunting part of the day for a first-timer. If you haven’t already done steady swim time trials—long, straight swims to simulate race day–add them in. Starting around three months out, begin with a 1,000 m time trial, then move up to 1,500 m, and so on. You should swim a 3,800 m time trial (the equivalent of 2.4 miles) at least once and, like the bike, get it in about a month out from race day. Work on pacing consistently throughout by checking your times at every 500 m increment. Consistent and steady pacing will lead to a better swim time, and more efficient energy expenditure.

For most first-time IRONMAN athletes the pacing is the hardest part, especially early on the bike. Consider that when you get into zone 3 heart rate (90 to 94 percent of the HR you could sustain for an hour), you burn glycogen (read: energy) at a much faster rate. By staying in your aerobic zone you won’t burn your energy stores and can keep a steady output throughout the day. You can target your aerobic zone by staying in HR zone 2, 85 to 89 percent of what you could sustain for an hour, or a rate of perceived exertion of of 6 to 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. This is why working in the aerobic zone in training is so important. It is also the key to building long-term fitness. Without it you won’t have the base to go faster at your next IRONMAN.

For the seasoned athlete

If you have already finished an IRONMAN, especially in the last year, you likely have a larger fitness base to work with and can do a more work in the upper aerobic zones. You still need to focus on the longer sessions, but consider adding in some zone 3 efforts on the bike and swim. These can be done midweek as their own session in as little as a two-hour ride. You should also include these efforts as part of a race simulation day. Instead of doing multiple six-hour rides, go out for four hours while including these zone 3 efforts. Here’s an example for a four-hour ride:

-Warm up

-3 x 30 minutes in zone 3 HR/power with 5 minute recoveries between

-Finish with a strong effort for the final 10 to 15 minutes

The same concept can be used for the run as well.

The idea here is raise your pace at your zone 2 HR or effort level. When you have a strong aerobic base to work with, the addition of zone 3 efforts makes you more efficient and allows you to go faster for the same effort. Maximizing your speed at this effort is the determining factor into how fast you go, and it can only be done when you’ve already done consistent work at an aerobic effort.

Finally, if you're a North American racing an early-season event, you will likely also be facing a change in climate. Acclimatization to warmer weather varies greatly from person to person, but some effort can be made to ease the transition from cold to warm on race day. If you are heading outside, consider adding extra layers to not only stay warm but also to better simulate race conditions. If you are staying inside, think about putting a space heater near your trainer or treadmill. If you do this, be sure to drink plenty of water to keep hydrated. Not only will this help you with temperature regulation, it will help you understand your sweat loss rate so you can really dial in your hydration and nutrition for race day.

AJ Johnson is a technical analyst for TrainingPeaks as well as a triathlon coach for D3 Multisport. You can follow him on Twitter @tricoachaj. Find a training plan, get matched with a triathlon coach, or just get a free account to monitor your progress: Get Started.